


Smoke Signals

by schroedingersfox



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Casual uses of magic, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Short One Shot, Tony Stark-centric, there's worldbuilding if you look for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 01:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16567256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schroedingersfox/pseuds/schroedingersfox
Summary: Sometimes dates don't go as planned. Another push, another try.





	Smoke Signals

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying something different: a short little fic, taken from a much more expansive and fleshed-out world. Comments very much appreciated, and as always, I'm over here on [tumblr](http://foxachu.tumblr.com/) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/foxachu), and you can [send me prompts here!](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/schroedingersfox_personal/profile)

　

_“You were so… refreshingly oblivious.”_

 

*****

 

Tony cups the cigarette, lights it with a purple flame. There are runes etched into the lighter, written in shorthand across the cigarette paper. He hunches into his coat against the biting wind and tugs his scarf up higher. This is a bad idea, he thinks, but the smoke tells him otherwise; so he finishes the cigarette with it hanging from his mouth while he texts Loki about another date and suggests a place with harder alcohol than wine.

He sets his phone to Do Not Disturb and pockets it. It makes it easier to curb the urge to check, easier to put it aside, to not obsess over seeing if there’s a message when the screen lights up. Safety regulations mean keeping it in his locker, anyway; but if he dropped the phone from thirty stories up, he wouldn’t be able to check it then, either.

Pepper calls after work when he’s stuck in traffic, asks if he wants to come over for dinner; and when he agrees and ends the call, he sees the notification.

_I’m sorry._

“Shit.”

There are other texts beneath that one, too, but his stomach twists immediately and he shoves the phone into the glove compartment. He white-knuckle grips the wheel in slow-moving commuter traffic, and those two words dominate the silence the entire way home.

 

*****

 

“Tony, you look a mess.”

“I know.” Tony takes off his jacket and lays it on the bench by his shoes at the door. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Pepper watches him from the couch, a sympathetic look on her face. “You probably should before you puke on the rug. Are you even hungry?”

“Not really.” He shrugs at her deepening frown. “I’ll do my best.”

She stands and rests her hand briefly on Tony’s shoulder on her way to the kitchen. “That’s all I ask.”

 

*****

 

Tony puts the obsessive energy to work on peeling potatoes for the soup. He knows he’s obsessed, he can feel it needling around in his brain, _I’m sorry_ , but he tries to focus. The potatoes were his choice: the peeler is sharp, requiring its own concentration, and he wants to keep his fingernails for the next day.

“Has he said anything?” Pepper opens the cabinet to pull out bay laurel and thyme, careful to not let the kitchen witch swing too much from the handle.

“He apologized.”

She faces him and leans her hip against the counter. “And...? That’s it?”

“That’s all I read. I didn’t open to see the rest.”

“Give me your phone, Tony.”

Tony sets his mouth, but gestures anyway in the direction of his jacket. Pepper abandons the spices on the counter.

“Is your passcode still the same?”

“Yes.”

He watches as she pulls the phone from his pocket. She stands there, reading with a frown on her face, and uses her finger to slowly scroll up. Tony can’t concentrate on the potatoes anymore. “Well?”

“Well, I think you should read it.”

“That sounds ominous.”

Pepper makes her way back to the kitchen and presses the phone into Tony’s hand. “It sounds like something you can handle, but need to read yourself. Read it, and I’ll make you some ginger tea for that worry-ache.”

 

_3:12 pm: I’m sorry._

_3:23 pm: I overreacted, and I apologize. You’ve probably guessed that being in the public eye makes dating difficult, let alone finding anything more serious. I was skeptical when you said you didn’t recognize me, but I liked that you didn’t. It was unrealistic on my part to think I could hide who I was, and I now wish I had told you sooner. Or that I had reacted better. But I’m glad you reached out. I wasn’t sure if I sh_

_3:24 pm: Sorry. Hit enter too soon. I wouldn’t mind going out for drinks again._

 

“So,” Tony says.

“So,” Pepper echoes. “What are you going to do?”

Tony huffs a laugh and puts the phone in his jeans pocket.

“I think I’ll let him stare at that read receipt for a while.”

 

*****

 

After dinner, back in his own apartment across the hall, Tony opens the chat with Loki.

_How about the bar down on Central? This Friday._

The reply comes when the phone is still in his hands.

_I’ll be looking forward to it. Pick you up at 7?_

　

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lesser Demons and the Days of Their Eternities](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17192447) by [FelicityGS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelicityGS/pseuds/FelicityGS)




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